Sunday Shows

Limbaugh Comments Debated on TV

By John Aloysius Farrell and Alexandra Jaffe

Rush Limbaugh has apologized for calling the Georgetown University law student who testified in Congress that health insurance coverage should include the cost of contraceptives a "slut" and a "prostitute." But the debate over the issue continued on the Sunday morning talk shows.

"I don't condone that type of language in any arena," he said. "Yes, it was insulting."

"The Republican Party has four people running for president, none of whom are Rush Limbaugh," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on CNN’s State of the Union, dismissing as "silly" the suggestion that the episode hurt GOP chances in next fall's election. None of the four of them "were involved in this controversy at all."

But David Axelrod, an adviser to President Obama, sought to keep the issue alive. On ABC’s This Week, Axelrod claimed that Limbaugh's comments were "not only vile and degrading to her, but to women across the country."